What is interesting is that I have all sorts of lag on Ultima, a JP server. I am sure that server is right next to Belios physically and yet you claim no lag. You also state there aren't many players.

If that is all there is to the story (and I'm sure there is more to the story), then the number of players on the server is directly proportional to the amount of lag. This means it is not a network problem, but rather a server problem (well, at least the network outside of the SE Datacenter Building).

If that is the case, this is squarely (like that?) SE's issue.

Half the time my summoned choco is standing in a city on my local map, just hangin'. While on the global map I can see he is following me, just invisible. I even get heals like I'm supposed to. It's just that I cannot see him because my client thinks he stopped off for a snack.

I have attributed this to lag or latency or my ISP. The more I read on this subject, I find it is SE's issue.

Masha